How to get Hitachi HDD quiet?

Message

Cedric · #1 Post by **Cedric** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 4:24 am

Hallo,

I hope, it isn't a problem, that I've opened a new thread, because I've posted the thread "T42 buzzing noices". After some tests I know the reason of the buzzing noice now - it's the Hitachi HDD.

IBM Service gave me the advice to exclude the HDD from the notebook. After this exclusion was done, the buzzing noice can't be heard any more.

After reinstalling the HDD the noice is already be heard. Now my question: How can I get my Hitachi HDD a little bit quieter?

Stephan

sugo · #2 Post by **sugo** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 6:15 am

download a S.M.A.R.T utility such as

ftp://ftp.heise.de/pub/ct/ctsi/winaam18.zip

to enable advanced acoustic management (128)

Cedric · #3 Post by **Cedric** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:13 am

I've used the Hitachi feature Tool, which allows me to set different parameters, among acoustic management values (quiet = 128). But the effect is unfortunately null.

I don't recognize any difference between 128 (quiet) and 256 (loud).

Regards
Stephan

keku · #4 Post by **keku** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 10:23 am

Upgrade to latest firmware .. IBM has release 10 now ... in my T42 HDD is very quite. even in T43 this HDD is very quite. no sound no clicking at all. (touch wood)

Cedric · #5 Post by **Cedric** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:17 am

@keku

What do you mean with touch wood?

I've found the firmware upgrade to v10. But how can I install it without a disk drive?

Stephan

sugo · #6 Post by **sugo** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 6:30 pm

If you have a desktop and floppy, then burn a bootable CD out of the floppy.

If not, there are virtual floppy drive software out there.

jhonyl · #7 Post by **jhonyl** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 7:21 pm

I also hear a very quiet noise from the HD. I guess it is normal for an HD to emit some noise while operating. I guess this kind of data could be found in the HD specs and compared to other drives noise specs, and so one can choose a quiet HD. Speaking of quiet, there is a new technology by samsung (I think) that makes an HD from flash memory modules. Very quiet. I wonder when it will get to the market. They made a 32GB drive of such modules. However, back to me, I don't understand why my HD doesn't stop occasionally. I had once a PIII 450Mhz, and its hard drive would stop when it wasn't needed on W2K. I wanted to know why this disk don't stop, so I googled 'Control Panel'->'Administrative Tools'->Performance which allows monitoring disk writes and many other things. It turns out that my disk has lots of writing missions. So it can't stop. Now the question is: Why on earth does it get all these write missions? I have 'Write caching' enabled. I have plenty of free RAM, and I have even canceled the page file, NAV, and automatic update so it wouldn't have stuff to save. But it still gets the write missions. If only it wrote to a buffer, and synced it later on ... 'cause a stopped HD is very quiet, and it uses less energy too, hence more unplugged time. Did anyone managed to stop the HD...? Does anyone run W2K and has managed to stop the HD? Delay write missions?

sugo · #8 Post by **sugo** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 7:31 pm

My XP used to do that too, never stopped. Then one day I read the blackviper advice page and disabled all the services I don't need, hdd stops spinning 10 minutes (power options) after inactivity.

The Hitachi 5k100 series has been very well behaved here. It's even quieter than a 5400rpm Fujitsu I had before.

Cedric · #9 Post by **Cedric** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:16 am

First of all, now I'm able to create a bootable CD from an bootable disk

I've the T42 2373M1G model with a Hitachi HDD (HTS541080G9ATOO) inside. A look in the IBM/Lenovo support site shows me, that my HDD isn't listed. So I've taken the nearest one: fwhd3313.exe.

Burning the CD works fine and starting the notebook results in starting from CD. So far so good. But when I select in the DOS program the [2] Update firmware I get the message: "no new firmware found". My firmware version is MB4IA5BJ.

It makes me a little bit confused, because my driver release is from year 2001.

Can anyone tell me, which version of the fwhd33XX.exe files are right?

apoll0 · #10 Post by **apoll0** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:29 am

Cedric:
What I'm guessing is that your HD is fairly new and doesn't need firmware upgrade. As for the driver date, I think you're confusing it with the Windows OS driver. It's not the same

apoll0 · #11 Post by **apoll0** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:40 am

I recently upgraded the HD firmware from some old version I wasn't aware of. My 7K60 HD was averaging 44 degrees on light use (which was pretty hot). After the FW upgrade, it is hovering 38 degrees. Not cool enough, but nice!

Cedric · #12 Post by **Cedric** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:51 am

@apoll0
Thanks for your answer.

Ok, then it seems, I've the newest HDD firmware. I was irritated from the driver release date, but it doesn't belong to the firmware. My HDD temperature is round about at 28-30 degree.

So the question is still alive, how do I get the HDD quieter?

In an absolutly silent room this noice can be bothering with the time.

Stephan

sugo · #13 Post by **sugo** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:06 am

My 5k100 has the same firmware MB4IA5BJ. Mine was manufactured in April 2005 so I don't expect a firrmware upgrade so soon.

Yup, don't worry about the driver. It's just a standard XP driver.

The drive runs average at 31 - 33'C. Ambient temperature is around 25'C.

Cedric · #14 Post by **Cedric** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:40 am

From Firmware and Software side I'm up-to-grade resp. -date.

Without going over the top, but the HHD drive noice is in an absolutly silent room audibale. This is the only thing I can criticize.

If there's any opportunity to get this noice in grip, I will be very happy.

jhonyl · #15 Post by **jhonyl** » Sat Jun 18, 2005 2:57 pm

sugo:

Sound interesting, I would try it. I need to know which services I don't need first ... So I will search that ... what do you recommend keeping?

How to get Hitachi HDD quiet?

How to get Hitachi HDD quiet?

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